A Test of Courage
by Zaphirite
Summary: Marinette still couldn't believe that the carnival set up a huge attraction based on them. "Ladybug and Chat Noir: The 5D Experience!" Luckily, having a best friend who is also Ladybug's #1 fan gives her the chance to secretly check it out. Unluckily, said best friend was plotting against her. [2/3 of a non-reveal series, Tests of Perception]. One-shot!
Marinette still couldn't believe that the carnival set up a huge attraction based on them. _"Ladybug and Chat Noir: The 5D Experience!"_ flashed above their heads in bright red neon letters. She remembered the private interview with the studio that created the whole thing – it took so long that she and Chat barely made it out with time before they turned back, but they wanted the experience to be as accurate as possible. (With a few details kept unsaid, of course. The last thing they needed was Hawkmoth getting an advantage on them from something like this.)

Luckily, having a best friend who is also Ladybug's #1 fan gives her the chance to secretly check it out.

What she didn't count on was how Nino and Adrien were also waiting in line with them. Or how as soon as the pair in front of them in line were allowed through the gate, Alya waggled her eyebrows at Marinette.

Ohhhh no, she knew that signal. That was the 'make your move on Hot Stuff Adrien' waggle. Marinette returned with a quick glance back at the boys talking behind them, then narrowed her eyes with a smirk, tilting her head to the left, signaling about Nino. 'So what about you and Nino, huh?' her eyebrows questioned challengingly. If Alya was going to trip her up, she was going down with her.

Alya just shrugged and crossed her arms, face smug. Ugh, she obviously wasn't bothered by the taunt and just accepted it. Her head tilted just an inch towards Adrien's direction over Marinette's right shoulder and widened her eyes, letting her "Hmmmmm?" raise quickly in pitch.

"Alya!" she finally complained out loud, squirming uncomfortably. She winced as she heard the two boys behind them stop their conversation to look at them.

"I still have no idea how girls do that." Nino sighed at his friend. Adrien just smiled back at the girls before fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"Sooooo, have you decided who you want to play as?"

Alya lit up. "Well, duh! Of course I'm going to be Ladybug! There is no way anyone else in Paris knows her as well as I do. I'm going to get the new high score." She puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips proudly.

Marinette only laughed at the declaration. "Well, you're not going to win that with me at your side. I'm going to get all the penalties, just watch!" The thought had crossed her mind that even playing as Chat Noir she would still know all the akuma too well and reveal how much she actually knows. "Clumsy" Marinette would have to turn things up a little.

Oh no. Alya's eyes glinted at her without letting her face give anything away. "Oh, you're right! Hey Nino, wanna be my Player 2 and get that high score?"

Only Marinette sputtered for a moment. She turned to look at Nino who was keeping his eyes focused on Alya and not on herself – her eyes narrowed at how the corner of his mouth was twitching. Alya just grabbed Nino's hand and yanked him forward with her as the gate attendant called for the next pair.

"Hey Adrien! Good luck with Marinette, you're going to need it~!" Her best friend called over her shoulder, a wink and a finger pistol shot their way before the two disappeared around the corner. She could hear both of them laughing. _'The jerks. They were both in on it!'_

"So…who did you want to play as?" She was surprised at how sheepish he sounded.

"Ummm…actually, I wanted to play as Chat Noir! I'm a much bigger f-fan of him than Ladybug, i-if that's alright with you, of course!" Somehow the focus on trying to hide her other self was taking the edge off of her nerves but her tongue still felt heavy in her mouth.

Marinette honestly couldn't find a better way to describe the way his whole atmosphere changed. He just popped in an instant with excitement like a corn kernel. Or maybe a puppy, he was as adorable as one. If he had a tail it would be wagging like crazy.

"Really!" He yells before pausing, catching himself in his excitement. _He really is made to control how he behaves_ , she notes sadly. His shoulders hunch up to his ears and before he could say anything she pushes a pointing finger into his chest, smirking.

"Yup, so that means _you_ get to be my Ladybug!" her smile faltered a little as she smacked herself mentally. Emulating Chat Noir to talk to Adrien sounded like it would just end in catas- she cut her mind off again before she could finish the pun. Adrien flinched; she probably surprised him with how unlike her that line sounded.

She drew her finger back with a nervous laugh. "Yeah, plus I know from Nino that you are k-kind of a fan of Ladybug, so it all works out!" Good. Yes. Good. He's smiling again so that was a great recovery.

The gate attendant called them in next. They entered a dim room and Marinette was handed a pair of Ladybug-patterned video goggles by the worker. She was curious, but smiled and passed it to Adrien, who suddenly couldn't stop grinning. The next set of goggles was black and had pointy cat ears attached at the top of the harness. The world became green-tinged and clearer through them – right, he has night vision. A sensor was strapped to each hand and then began the explanation.

Controls were simple: the sensors would recognize commands to summon their respective weapons, and holding up their right arm in the air would call their power. It would reset after each encounter with a random akuma victim.

Surely even with limiting herself, this was going to be easy. Marinette let out a laugh. Imagine the look on Alya's face if they beat her score!

* * *

Okay this was harder than she thought. Not because of knowing how to take down each akuma, but rather she failed to actually think about fighting as Chat.

They made their way down the corridor through the tutorial room projected in their goggles. Marinette caught herself flicking her wrist multiple times at the targets around them, but at least she wasn't the only one flubbing it up. Adrien kept running up to each target instead of striking from a distance.

"Oh, right, sorry. Fencing is pretty close range, so I keep forgetting." He laughed. She tries her best to keep the image of his embarrassed face locked in her memory. It was really nice to see he was letting his guard down and relaxing in the darkness. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as he bowed in a gesture to let her take the lead.

They crossed the threshold into the next room and suddenly bubbles of every color floated in the air around them. Marinette looked back at Adrien. "It has to be The Bubbler!"

He didn't respond. His shoulders were hunched up again and his head was tilted to the ground. She didn't like whatever look was on his face, only his grimace visible with his eyes obscured by the tinted glint of his goggles. Something familiar sparked in her and helped steady her shaking hand. "Hey," she took a few steps to stand by him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We can finish this one quickly since we were there. It's got to be his bubble wand, right?"

There was a moment where she could just see through the lens as he looked up but she couldn't read him. His shoulders lowered a little. "Right, sorry. It just wasn't the best day ever."

"Well," she turned back to look up, where the scenery had developed around them and set them in a park. "We have another chance to make it better, don't we?"

* * *

The Bubbler was defeated with a Lucky Charm – and oh dear God, she wanted to hear Adrien say the phrase over and over again, he was just so excited to say it – and Adrien tangled the villain with a kite that got him stuck in a tree. Marinette hadn't used Cataclysm in the fight, so she couldn't stop giggling when she called the power to destroy the wand discarded on the ground. Even more amusing was that Adrien didn't have to do the entire speech to de-evilize the akuma, but he _did_ it all from memory!

She's starting to suspect he's a _much_ bigger fan than he let on earlier. The thought brought about silly ideas and another wave of happiness that she had to stifle.

They had also defeated Rogercop, who was thankfully simplified to his arm guns. Marinette did get a few penalties; she couldn't freeze in time once shot and handcuffed to the doorway and her cataclysm missed and hit the villain instead of his akumatized item. She never really thought what would happen if cataclysm hit a person and she never wanted to know. The memory of Dark Cupid made a shiver crawl up her spine.

Adrien was first into the next room, watching multiple antennae form a circle around them. "It's Lady Wifi! We just need to jam her signal!" He already flicked his arm to summon the yoyo and Marinette followed by summoning Chat's baton. They somewhat got used to the virtual weapons, but their aim could be a lot better. Or Adrien's at least, since Marinette was pulling a couple punches here and there.

The villainess materialized on top of one antenna, phone at the ready.

Marinette smirked. "The environment made it too easy, I just need a Cataclysm to take them all out, right?"

There was something really fun about pretending to be Chat Noir. She also knew that her suggestion was going to fail, but hey if her partner was impulsive, she was going to act the part.

She called the power with a yell and was able to take out a third of the towers before Adrien yelled for her to dodge. She fell back, seeing the pink pause buttons pepper the ground in front of her. Adrien shot his yo-yo forward only to catch onto another antenna and snap it as the villain disappeared and reappeared quickly between the remaining towers.

Her back met her partner's as they rotated to guard each other. Adrien took the chance to snap more of the towers one by one with the yo-yo, slowing Lady Wifi and soon leaving her only three perches to stand on. She flickered between the three in a pattern that changed every few seconds, but with their formation they were able to call each shot and dodge.

Adrien took a chance and shot at the villain's hand as she was about to attack. What they didn't count on was that she could attack while teleporting, appearing at the tower between them and not giving Adrien the time to recall the yo-yo tangled in the antenna.

"Look out!"

Marinette pushed Adrien out of the way as neon pink filled her goggles. She fell onto the floor, cursing. Another penalty and this one was motion sensitive. She had to stay completely still until the towers were gone or the enemy defeated, and she couldn't even see to aid her partner.

"Just two more, Marinette! I'll get you back up soon! Lucky Charm!" Adrien's voice reassured her somewhere to her right.

She huffed, realizing how easily she took the hit for him and thought about how Chat seemed to do it without a thought. She really needed to have a serious talk with him about that, but she had a feeling it came all too naturally and she didn't like it.

Her vision suddenly cleared and she quickly got up, baton at the ready but relaxing as she saw a broken cellphone on the ground and a string of Christmas lights in his hands. Adrien tossed up the charm and the field was cleared, then helping pull her up. The green exit sign glowed brighter at the end of the room. He let go of her hand and they both waited a moment but no extravagant doorways appeared like in the last rooms.

"Is that it? Did we…did we win?" Adrien wandered around the room a little for a moment to check if there was anything that marked their completion. Marinette felt something bubble up her chest – pride, joy, satisfaction all together maybe, and she let out a "Ha!" punching the air with her fists.

"We did it!" Marinette squealed, jumping up and down. She looked to Adrien who was doing a silly victory dance in place. His eyes met hers and she could see them gleaming with happiness through her goggles. "We make a great team, Marinette!" Their fists met instantly.

"Pound it!"

Something nagged her in the back of her mind, but they were both laughing and she was drowning in the sound of his laughter that rang bright like bells. She couldn't thank Tikki or Alya or all the luck in the world enough that she got to see this side of Adrien.

A dagger connected to a cord shot from the darkness above and pierced the ground in front of them.

Instinct kicked in and Marinette hopped back in a defensive stance. Adrien followed suit and they both stared up above them as more darts fanned out in front of them, blocking the way forward and forming a web.

A distorted voice cackled from above.

"So, you defeated all the akuma, but can you fight against yourselves?"

Black coated legs faded into view as they walked down the strings of the web, followed closely by limbs crawling next to them in white.

Okay, this was _so_ not mentioned in the interview.

Finally the pair stepped into the light. The upright person was dressed in an all-black body suit that split into red cracks everywhere, including the mask. A red hourglass marked her abdomen. Navy hair was chopped short, curling inwards to a point on each side of her face like fangs. A green bracelet was attached to silver chain that connected to…

Oh God. No. No way. She really had to go demand an explanation.

The crouched figure was almost identical to Chat Noir, but dressed in white with purple eyes. A red collar hung around his neck, a chain leash hung loosely in the other's hand.

 **[SECRET BOSS: CHAT BLANC AND BLACK WIDOW]**

"Oh, you have _GOT_ to be _kitten_ me!" Adrien groaned at her side. He gave a small grin as she glowered at him – seriously, she should have just stuck the Chat goggles on him if he was going to make the cat puns here.

A beeping noise rung out, and a timer popped up in their peripheral vision, signaling they only had 5 minutes to defeating the villains.

"So, any ideas, Ladybug?" Marinette snickered at the way the name sounded coming from her voice.

Adrien was looking around the room, not finding any other intractable objects besides the steel webs blocking their way in and out. "I've got a few, kitten. Even evilized, they're still a team, right? What if we split them up?"

Marinette looked down at her hand. "Well, since we only have five minutes, no need to hang onto the special abilities, right?"

"Lucky Charm!" "Cataclysm!"

Adrien caught a spray can in his hands. "Cooking spray? I know things are heating up but what do we use this for?"

Marinette looked around at the few options. The webs wouldn't be much use, all that was left was…!

"Follow my lead!" Marinette leaped forward, dodging a dagger that landed where she once stood. Bounding closer she saw Chat Blanc move forward to attack. His claws were a lot longer, she first notices as he misses a swipe at her. She backed away, ducking as the yo-yo shot from behind her and hit him in the forehead. The cat lunged at Adrien now and the pair moved off to the other end of the room. She turns to face her double.

Black Widow did not move the entire time, watching Chat Blanc fight until Marinette approached. "Hey bug breath! Come and get me!" Marinette dashed to the opposite corner of the room from Adrien, putting as much space in between them. Finally the villainess moved, coming forward to trap her in the corner with a number of daggers floating at the ready, chained arm raised to direct them to strike.

There!

"Gotcha!"

Marinette grinned as she rolled forward, cutting the chain as close to the bracelet as possible. The villainess wheeled around to face her again, a smirk on her own face. Marinette knew that anyone else would try to destroy the bracelet on the first try, and think they failed when they hit the chain instead. She grabbed the cut end and bolted to Adrien, dragging the heavy chain along.

"Spray it now!" Daggers zipped by her head from a distance but she was able to evade them swiftly. Adrien knocked back his enemy and sprayed him in the face with the polka-dotted canister. Chat Blanc flinched back yowling, trying to rub off the oil from his eyes and greasy bangs now covered them. Marinette yanked back on the chain and wound it around to trap his hands at his face before binding his legs.

"Catch!" Adrien tossed the canister to Marinette as he pinned down the noisy villain. She turned around to come face to face with her counterpart, spraying instantly to interrupt the floating daggers. Black Widow brought both arms up to block her face – bingo.

With her other hand, Marinette grabbed the bracelet that easily slipped off the other's wrist and stomped on it, freeing an akuma that fluttered to join another in the air. She turned to Adrien who held the ripped collar in his hands, and he was grinning wider than she's ever seen the boy smile before. She pointed up at the akuma above them and his grin dropped as he hit himself in the forehead with a "Duh!"

This time she joined him in saying Ladybug's mantra just to humor him. He caught both akuma at once and she handed the spray can back to him to let him call out "Miraculous Ladybug!" The doorway was unblocked and he joined her side, both trying to catch their breath. The lights in the room turned on and both removed their goggles, returning to reality and a black room.

Marinette gestured to the exit with one arm, letting one last dig at her partner slip out with a grandiose bow. "Well, they're probably waiting for us. Shall we, my Lady-ybug?"

Her voice stuttered on the nickname, remembering that outside of the duo no one else knew it. Adrien did a double take at her, but she brushed it off along with her ebbing confidence as her nerves started to return. He grinned after a moment and took her hand, pulling her to start walking forward before letting go.

"I guess I'm not the only huge fan here, huh?" He was chucking and she couldn't help but match it.

"Yeah. Y-you could say that." She broke his gaze and looked forward down the corridor, trying to calm her heart. "Chat's really important! L-Ladybug would be nothing without him and I'm sad to see not many people appreciate how much he d-does for Paris. But I still refuse to copy his cat puns." She ended strongly, crossing her arms.

"What? Leave them to me next time, I've got a ton of good ones!"

Next time?! Marinette's poor heart was going to give out before she even saw sunlight again.

* * *

Alya was upset.

Nino wasn't being careful with his hands in their fight against Stormy Weather and was cornered after wasting a Cataclysm, costing them a lot of damage point deductions before Alya could save him in the last round.

She was also upset at seeing Marinette and Adrien's score shooting up near the top of the high-score list where only two other scores held the same ridiculous 10,000-point advantage.

"There's gotta be a secret, what did you two do?!" Alya would not let the matter go as they walked to the bus stop outside the carnival grounds. She stood between Marinette and Adrien, hanging an arm around each of their shoulders. Adrien just shrugged and Marinette patted the hand hanging on her in comfort.

"We didn't do anything. We beat the third boss, fist bumped, and then got the secret bos-HHHHGGGGH!"

The arms around both of them nearly choked them as Alya froze in her tracks.

"Oh my God. I forgot their fist bump. NINO WE FORGOT THE FIST BUMP, HOW COULD WE, THEY ALWAYS DO THAT!" She removed her arms to shake Nino's shoulder as she visibly deflated. Head snapping up, she turned to the other pair.

"We have to go back. Marinette we have to go back and you're going to be my partner. I have to know who the secret bosses are!"

Marinette snorted at how her best friend practically swapped their normal roles. "No spoilers, Alya!"

She yelped as an arm draped across her shoulders, looking up at the blond pulling her closer. "I called dibs already for round two, Alya! Marinette's a great Chat Noir!"

* * *

A few days later, when Ladybug met up with her partner and talked about the carnival attraction, Chat had to keep bringing her back to attention as her mind kept drifting off, recalling the sound of Adrien's laughter that rang like golden bells.


End file.
